Father Emil Kapaun Part 5: Leads camp prisoners in quiet acts of defiance

At sunrise on Easter Sunday, March 25, 1951, Father Emil Kapaun startled POWs by donning his purple priest’s stole and openly carrying a Catholic prayer missal, borrowed from Ralph Nardella.

Fr. Kapaun prepares to conduct a field Mass on the hood of his jeep. August of 1950.
Courtesy Photo

This Communist propaganda photo shows several of Emil Kapaun's friends in captivity, taken long after Kapaun died. Sidney Esensten is second from left, Clarence Anderson is in the middle, and Chester Osborne, whose life Kapaun saved, is at right. Surviving POWs detest this photo; it makes them look healthy in a camp where they were being mistreated.
Associated Press

The press release that accompanied the photo of Chester Osborne and prisoners playing chess.

POW Chester Osborne (arm upraised), whose life Father Kapaun saved from starvation and illness, during his voyage home after the Korean War ended. OsborneÕs family mistakenly received notice during the war that he was killed in action.

A young Chester Osborne, whose life Kapaun saved

Troops of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division march in a single line on each side of the empty road through the town of Pohang, where they landed, toward the South Korean front on July 18, 1950. This is the first amphibious operation since World War II. (AP Photo/Charles P. Gorry)
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A 75mm recoilless rifle team from the 1st Cavalry Division keeps a bridge of fire going over Naktong River as they blast away at enemy positions in Korea, Sept. 5, 1950. (AP Photo)
AP

With the frozen Yalu River and snowy Manchurian hills at their backs, Cpl. Mayford J. Gadner, left, and Pfc. Tommie Robinson from New Mexico, stand guard near Hyesanjin on Korea's northeastern front, Dec. 2, 1950. The GIs are members of the U.S. 7th Division. (AP Photo)
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A small landing craft, launched by the tank landing ship behind, carrying U.S. troops of the 1st Cavalry Division heads for the beach at Pohang, South Korea, on July 19, 1950, during the Korean War. This is the first U.S.combat amphibious operation since World War II. (AP Photo)
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U.S. troops sit atop a death-dealing medium tank on Sept. 14, 1950, in Gyeongju at a defense position in the Korean War. On the tall pole in background is a tax notice reading "Tax Day house-to-house tax, July 1-20." A Korean policeman, left, directs traffic. Left to right on gun mount are: Bruce Elliott, Steelton, Pa.; Pfc. Robert Ward, Georgiana, Ala.; and Pfc. Paul Zamana, Steubenville, Ohio. On fender is Cpl. Clark Rake of St. Augustine, Fla. (AP Photo)
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Residents from Pyongyang, North Korea, and refugees from other areas crawl perilously over shattered girders of the city's bridge on Dec. 4, 1950, as they flee south across the Taedong River to escape the advance of Chinese Communist troops. The Chinese entered the Korean War as allies of North Korea. U.S. troops battled on the side of South Korea. Begun in June 25, 1950, the war ended on July 27, 1953, with a military demarcation line set near the 38th parallel where it started. Korea remains divided. (AP Photo/Max Desfor)
AP

These North Korean tanks, made in Russia, were moving up for battle when rocket-firing planes of the U.S. Fifth Air Force caught them, destroying three and damaging three, July 21, 1950. Also caught was a truck which rolled down an embankment, at center, and landed on its side. (AP Photo/USAF)
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American troops, members of the Korean military advisory group, march toward Kimpo airfield, west of Seoul in South Korea, on June 28, 1950, after evacuating the South Korean capital ahead of advancing North Korean forces. The Americans were forced to cross the Han River in small beats then march 16 miles to the field. (AP Photo)
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Unidentified American soldiers man a 75mm recoilless rifle covering a vital road somewhere in South Korea on July 31, 1950, during the Korean War. (AP Photo)
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U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander-in-chief of United Nations forces, is shown on the bridge of the USS McKinley on his arrival at Inchon Harbor in South Korea in September 1950 during the Korean War. Standing left to right are Vice Adm. Arthur D. Struble, commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet; Brig. Gen. E.K. Wright, assistant chief of staff, G-3, Far East Command; and Maj. Gen. Edward M. Almond, commander of 10th Corps. (AP Photo/U.S. Dept. of Defense)
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U.S. troops line up for chow during a lull in the fighting against North Korean invaders, Aug. 2, 1950. This rugged terrain is typical of the countryside on this sector of the Korean battle line. (AP Photo)
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American and South Korean marines stand in an amphibian tractor crossing the Han River, northwest of Seoul, South Korea, Sept. 20, 1950. Allied marines driving on Seoul from the northwest have pushed into the outskirts. (AP Photo/Max Desfor)
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U.N. troops rush a wounded comrade out of fighting range on a road outside Seoul, South Korea, in September 1950. (AP Photo/Max Desfor)
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Weary from long duty, this U.S. soldier slumped down to rest alongside his machine gun dugout during the Korean War while Allied forces were guarding the small Pusan, South Korea, perimeter, Aug. 9, 1950. (AP Photo/Max Desfor)
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A U.S. Marine clambers over a battered and shell-splattered barricade in a Seoul business district at the height of fighting for the South Korean capital held by invading North Koreans for three months, Sept. 28, 1950. (AP Photo/Max Desfor)
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Civilians cheer the arrival of a U.S. cavalry division in Munsan, South Korea, in October 1950. (AP Photo/Max Desfor)
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In a battle during the Korean War, a U.S. Marine carrying a bayonet rifle leaps across an embankment as a comrade waits to follow during the drive toward the Naktong River on South Korea's general front on Aug. 22, 1950. Marines rushed from the southern sector to help stem the enemy drive on Taegu. (AP Photo/Max Desfor)
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Combat Outfitted Marines carrying rifles move along a Seoul street with a wounded buddy on a litter Sept. 30, 1950. The South Korean capital and virtually all of South Korea was in control of United Nations troops. (AP Photo)
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A mortar company of the Marines' 3rd Battalion, 7th Regiment, marches up a mountainside over North Korea's Great Divide, Nov. 10, 1950, as they approach Koto in the drive toward Changjin reservoir. (AP Photo/Frank Noel)
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An American infantryman, his buddy killed in action in the Korean War, weeps on the shoulder of another GI somewhere in Korea, Aug. 28, 1950. Meanwhile, a corpsman, left, goes about the business of filling out casualty tags. No identifications available. (AP Photo/Al Chang)
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American soldiers of the 8th Cavalry Regiment crouch through a low brush on a Korean hilltop north of the 38th parallel after planting their guidon within sight of the Communist forces on nearby hills on Oct. 15, 1950 during the Korean War. The road in the background runs directly north to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. (AP Photo/Max Desfor)
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Bodies of some 400 Korean civilians lie in and around trenches in Taejon's prison yard during the Korean War in September 1950. The victims were bound and slain by retreating Communist forces before the 24th U.S. Division troops recaptured the city Sept. 28. Witnesses said that the prisoners were forced to dig their own trench graves before the slaughter. Looking on, at left, is Gordon Gammack, war correspondent of the Des Moines Register and Tribune. (AP Photo/James Pringle)
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In this photo released by the Department of Defense, the U.S.S. Missouri is shown bombarding Chong-Ji, Korea, with 16-inch guns, Oct. 21, 1950. Chong-Ji is approximately 120 miles from the Russian base of Vladivostok. (AP Photo/DOD)
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Troops of the 1st U.S. Cavalry Division land ashore at Pohang on the east coast of Korea on July 19, 1950, during the Korean War. This is the first combat amphibious operation since World War II. The force was unopposed and moved inland quickly. (AP Photo)
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Two North Korean prisoners captured during fighting for Yongsan on Sept. 2, 1950, sit on jeep hood under guard of U.S. 2nd Division infantrymen as they are taken to the rear in the Naktong River sector of Korea. (AP Photo)
AP

Bearded and worn but still grinning these freed American prisoners indulge in horseplay for the camera in North Korea after their release on Nov. 11, 1950, by Chinese communists. These unidentified men were in the first group released. (AP Photo)
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Troops of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, carrying full combat packs, walk off a landing craft at Pohang, Korea, July 18, 1950, during the Korean War. This is the first amphibious landing since World War II. (AP Photo)
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A Republic of Korea soldier, left, and an American officer search the pockets of a dead Communist soldier left behind by retreating Communist troops during U.S. Marines' counterattack against enemy in hills near Yongsan, Korea, on Sept. 4, 1950, in the Korean War. An enemy tank, one of several knocked out during battle, burns in the background. (AP Photo)
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In this photo released by the U.S. Marines, a group of Marines fighting their way from the enemy encirclement at Chosin to Hungnam, Korea, take a rest in the snow somewhere on the route in December 1950 during the Korean War. (AP Photo/USMC)
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At sunrise on Easter Sunday, March 25, 1951, Father Emil Kapaun startled POWs by donning his purple priest’s stole and openly carrying a Catholic prayer missal, borrowed from Ralph Nardella.

He had talked atheist guards into letting him hold an Easter service, a favor they soon regretted.

No one there would ever forget this day. The most moving sight the POWs ever saw.

At sunrise, 80 officers — bearded, dirty and covered with lice — followed Kapaun up a little rise, to the cold steps of a bombed-out church. They gathered in a circle around him. Kapaun held a crude crucifix made from broken sticks. He looked thin and filthy; except for the black eye patch, he looked to Walt Mayo like one of the ragged apostles.

Kapaun began speaking, and his voice caught; he said he didn’t have the equipment to give them a proper Mass. But then he held up his ciborium, the tiny gold container that before his capture had held communion hosts he had placed on tongues of soldiers.

He opened Nardella’s prayer missal, and as he began to recite from it, the Christians among them realized what a risk he was now taking. He was beginning not from the Easter promise of rebirth but from the dark brutality of Good Friday.

As the guards glared, Kapaun read the Stations of the Cross, describing Christ’s condemnation, torture and death. Captives who had been mocked and tormented and beaten listened as Kapaun spoke of Christ being mocked and tormented and beaten.

Tears flowed.

Kapaun held up a rosary. He asked the non-Catholics to let the Catholics indulge for a bit; they knelt as he said the rosary, recited the glorious mysteries of Christ rising, ascending, defying death for all time.

A voice rose in song. A POW, Bill Whiteside, had a beautiful voice, and he raised it now to sing the Lord’s Prayer, a recital that gave goosebumps to Sidney Esensten, the Jewish doctor.

Kapaun spoke. His theme: forgiveness.

And he said he did not feel qualified to advise them about life because, “I am not any better than you are.”

Then they all sang as Kapaun had taught them: loud so that the enlisted men could hear. Starving men sang at sunrise, the same song Whiteside had sung, the Lord’s Prayer, a song they laced with reverence.

****

Kapaun had rallied them all.

When guards demanded that Ralph Nardella stand before the prisoners and recite what he had learned about Communism’s founders Marx and Engels, Nardella yelled out with a straight face to fellow captives that he’d learned a lot from “Marx and Engels and Amos and Andy,” the last two being fools from an American radio program. POWs laughed; the guards glared.

There were now hundreds of acts of defiance in the camps every day. Kapaun and a prisoner named William Hansen stole dysentery drugs from the Chinese hospital and smuggled them to Esensten.

Herb Miller, inspired by Kapaun, began to read a pocket Bible, which one of Miller’s fellow prisoners hid from the Chinese by sticking it in a bandage he’d wrapped around his knee. The one place the Chinese would never search on them was a bandage, Miller thought grimly. They let the men die of their wounds.

William Funchess, in the officers’ camp, had taken to reading aloud at night from his own pocket Bible, putting his soul and his syrupy Carolina accent into every tender reading. The men always asked for the 23rd Psalm, and sometimes asked him to read it 15 or 20 times in a row. Funchess would read it to them and feel at peace.

Again and again Mike Dowe and Funchess and the others saw Kapaun defy the Chinese monitors in the propaganda classes. He never raised his voice, but he challenged them every time, and Funchess after a time began to realize he did it not just to rally them to the flag but to rally them to live.

Every time Kapaun defied them, it was a reminder to starving prisoners that standing up was the opposite of giving up.

A Chinese officer one day, outraged by POW defiance, told them he would shoot them all, and bury them “so that your bones will forever fertilize the soil of North Korea.”

There was a brief silence. Then Kapaun spoke:

“What a dumb son of a bitch!”

****

In private moments, Kapaun would renounce his swearing.

One day, filled with anger at the camp commander, Comrade Sun, Kapaun told Dowe, “When Jesus talked about forgiving our enemies, he obviously did not have Comrade Sun in mind!”

The Chinese by this time had removed the North Korean guards, who had guarded the prisoners since the camps opened. The North Koreans hated the Americans who had mauled them so badly before the Chinese entered the war.

The Chinese, embarrassed by all the deaths, took over administration along the Yalu River, though all it really meant at first was that they starved POWs at a slower rate and replaced brutal guards with slightly better guards.

But like the North Koreans, the Chinese hated religion, and Comrade Sun made sure Kapaun knew it. Dowe came across Kapaun one day, and was surprised to see him smiling. Kapaun stared down a road leading south.

“What are you thinking of, Father?” Dowe asked.

He was daydreaming, the priest replied. “Of that happy day when the first American tank rolls down that road.”

Kapaun looked at Dowe.

“Then I’m going to catch that little so-and-so Comrade Sun and kick his ass right over the compound fence.”

****

There was at least one healing, prisoners said later.

Kapaun one day walked into a hut and took an apparently dying prisoner in his arms. Chester Osborne Jr. was one of Moose McClain and Dowe’s closest friends, but they saw, with eyes trained by experience, that he would die soon. Kapaun cradled Osborne in his arms, laid Osborne’s head on his shoulder. Kapaun then bluntly told Osborne to quit dying.

As a “precaution” he told him, “I’ll give you the last rites, just in case.” But he told Osborne to fight harder for his life. Then he prayed, for about five minutes.

Osborne rallied. This surprised everybody in that hut.

Most men died quickly when they got that sick, and a lot of men got sick now. Some of them had noticed something at the Easter service: Kapaun looked ill.

****

Shortly after Easter, Kapaun came to Esensten, looking feeble, hobbling on a stick, in obvious pain.

Esensten touched Kapaun’s leg. Then he pulled up Kapaun’s trouser and saw swelling, blue and black discoloration. He pressed a finger into a foot; the dent did not go away.

Esensten stood up angry. You should have told me, he said. One leg was twice the size of the other.

Kapaun stood silent.

We need to treat this immediately, Esensten said. He said he wanted Kapaun to lie down and stay down.

“No,” Kapaun said.

****

Funchess awoke one night soon after to the sound of a man being shoved into his hut. The guards had transferred Kapaun here, perhaps to separate him from McClain, another troublemaker they disliked.

Kapaun was in pain. When Funchess saw his leg, he knew this would cause much suffering in a hut where 14 men slept jammed against each other and stepped on each other to get to the latrines at night.

“Would you like my spot next to the wall?” Funchess asked. Because of his injured foot, he had taken that spot weeks before. “The wall will give you protection.”

For once, Kapaun did not argue with a Good Samaritan; he said yes. Funchess lay beside him in the dark, warming the priest’s frail body with his own.

At Freedom Village, Korea, in the fall of 1953, American repatriates (left to right) Capt. Joseph O'Connor, Warrant Officer Felix McCool and Lt. Ralph Nardella carried a hand carved crucifix made by a Jewish marine in memory of Fr. Emil Kapaun.

After the war and his release, POW and close Father Kapaun friend Ralph Nardella came to Wichita, carrying the cross carved by POWs in the camp to honor him; with him here is Bishop Mark Carroll.
Courtesy Photo

Months after Father Kapaun died, a Jewish POW named Gerald Fink, captured after KapaunÕs death, began hand-carving a four-foot crucifix to honor the priest who was so beloved in the camp. It took months, and later cost Fink mistreatment at the hands of Communist guards; the cross is now on display at Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School.
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After atheist Communist guards made him throw his chaplainsÕ helmet liner in the camp garbage, Father Kapaun made sure the cross was visible in the dump; he and soldiers prayed before it afterward. The liner, smuggled out by POWS, is now on display at Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School in Wichita.
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At the dedication of Chaplain Kapaun High School in 1957, several friends and admirers spoke. Back row: battlefield hero Dr. Clarence Anderson, Lt. William (Moose) McClain, Lt. Ralph Nardella, and Maj. Gerald Fink, the marine corps fighter pilot and artist who carved the crucifix to honor Kapaun. In the front row are Bishop Mark Carroll and Cardinal Francis Spellman.

Many honors came Father KapaunÕs way after the war; Lt. Gen. Hobert Gay came to Wichita to give medals and other honors to KapaunÕs parents, Bessie and Enos, standing here alongside Catholic Diocese bishop Mark Carroll.

Enos the Bessie Kapaun wedding photo 1915.
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Emil Kapaun at age 4.
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A missal written in Latin used by Fr. Kapaun
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A missal written in Latin used by Fr. Kapaun
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A missal written in Latin used by Fr. Kapaun
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A charcoal sketch of Fr. Kapaun.
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Ceramic figurines are part of the items stored in Pilsen, part of the Fr. Kapaun collection.
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Ceramic figurines are part of the items stored in Pilsen, part of the Fr. Kapaun collection.
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Ceramic figurines are part of the items stored in Pilsen, part of the Fr. Kapaun collection.
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Fans, most likely sent home from Japan.
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China sent home from the orient
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China sent home from the orient
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A small crucifix was included in the items returned to Kapaun family after Fr. Kapaun's death.
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A pocket watch was among the items returned to the Kapaun family after the death of Fr. Kapaun.
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A silver necklace sent home from Fr. Kapaun's tour in Burhma.
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One of Fr. Kapaun's many pipes.
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Mess kit.
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Benediction Cope and Humeral veil worn by Fr Kapaun
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Benediction Cope and Humeral veil worn by Fr Kapaun
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Fr. Kapaun's Surplice. The trim was crocheted by his mother Bessie.
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Fr. Kapaun's Surplice. The trim was crocheted by his mother Bessie.
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A small crucifix was included in a box military ribbons.
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Calvary patches from Fr. Kapaun's belongings.
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A chalice pall used by Fr. Kapaun
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Fr. Kapaun's jabot and collar.
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A pin that was included in Fr. Kapaun's belongings.
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Fr. Kapaun's Chasuble.
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Ranks and awards that Fr. Kapaun received during his military career that are stored in Pilsen.
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Two handfuls of millet and cracked corn were all the prisoners of war were given to eat while in the Chinese prisons.
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A package of millet equal to what the prisoners were given.
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New assistant pastor of Pilsen, Fr. Emil Kapaun.

Fr. Kapaun, front row.

Fr. Kapaun year book photo form Kenwick Seminary.

A very young Fr. Kapaun.

Conception College 1932. (Kapaun is in the back row, center)

Fr. Kapaun (left) with Fr. Vesecky and Preisner. at Kenrick Seminary. Note on the back: "Remember the day?" Signed Elmer.

Fr. Kapaun, center of photo, follows a procession into the Pilsen church for his First Mass on June 9, 1940.

Formal portrait of Fr. Kapaun on the day of his first Mass with the parents Bessie and Enos, left, and bother, Eugene, right.

Fr. Kapaun celebrates his first mass at Pilsen June 9, 1940.

Fr. Kapaun (center) on the steps of the Pilsen rectory

Fr. Kapaun (left) with the ladies of St. Anne's Alter Society, Pilsen. Monsignor John Sklenar is on the right.

Fr. Kapaun, center, with Fr. Paul Meier and Marian Hurtig enjoying a summer day in Washington D.C. where Kapaun was attending Catholic University.

Chase Kear, on his first visit to the hometown and memorial statue of Korean War hero Father Emil Kapaun, studies the face of the man who he believes intervened from heaven to help save his life.
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Chase Kear is silhouetted in one of many stained-glass windows in the St. John Nepomucene Church in Pilsen.
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Rose Mary Neuwirth leads the Kear family on a tour of St. John Nepomucene Church on a recent visit to Pilsen.
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Under the Father Kapaun shrine in St. John Nepomucene Church in Pilsen, Chase Kear and his family pose for photos taken by Pilsen residents intrigued by his story.
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The Kear family, with Chase Kear at center, kneel in the front pew at St. John Nepomucene Church in Pilsen, their first visit to the church of the man they believe miraculously saved Chase's life.
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A X-ray of Chase Kear's skull after a ceramic plate was put in to replace the section of his skull that was removed in October of 2008. Kear underwent a craniotomy to remove swelling on his brain.
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Chase Kear, with a hole in his head and his recovery in full swing, a few weeks after his pole-vaulting accident in October 2008.
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In this photo taken Feb. 28. 2009, Chase Kear, with his brain damaged and with his parents, Paula and Paul, flanking him, navigates the hallways of Wesley Rehabilitation Center just weeks after his near-fatal pole-vaulting accident.
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Kapaun POW friends Mike Dowe, left, and Herbert Miller, right, with Archbishop Philip Hannan several years ago, on a visit to Pilsen and the Kapaun memorial statue there.
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On a recent visit to St. John Nepomucene Church in Pilsen, Chase Kear was allowed to briefly carry the processional cross Father Kapaun once carried when he was a priest there.
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Fr. Kapaun with his parents Bessie and Enos, date unknown.

Father Emil Kapaun celebrating Mass with chaplain's assistant Patrick J. Schuler, using the hood of a Jeep as his altar Oct 7, 1950. Kapaun was taken prisoner just a month later and died in a North Korean POW camp in less than a year.
Courtesy Photo

In this undated photo released by the Catholic Diocese of Wichita, Father Emil Kapaun, a Catholic priest and Army chaplain shows his pipe which was shot our of his mouth by a sniper during the Korean conflict. Kapaun, already under consideration for sainthood has won the endorsement of the Army's top civilian leader to receive the Medal of Honor.
Asscociated Press

Fr. Kapaun in Korea in fall of 1950.

A young Fr. Kapaun in World War II

Formal portrait of Fr. Kapaun during World War II.

From left. Fr. Kapaun, Fr. Blatz, Fr. Quinn, Fr. Bowdern. A note the back reads "The 4 horesmen. We Fathers came overseas together."

Fr. Kapaun bottom row, right, World War II.

Fr. Kapaun poses for a photo with another officer in Miami. Date Unknown
Courtesy Photo

One of the two iconic photographs of Father Emil Kapaun shows him and another soldier carrying an exhausted GI off a battlefield in Korean, early in the war. The photo shows Kapaun to the GI's left. The soldier on the GI's right side was Capt. Jerome A. Dolan;, a medical officer with the 8th Cavalry regiment.

Paul and Paula Kear look through scrapbooks in the basement of St. John Nepomucene Church in Pilsen, Kan., as Travis Heying films them. The Kears were visiting the church and the home of Father Emil Kapaun for the first time.
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Travis Heying films services at St. John Nepomucene Church in Pilsen, Kan., the boyhood home of Father Emil Kapaun.
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Travis looks at war time photos of Father Kapaun with Herbert Miller of Pulaski, N.Y.
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